Warner Bros. is looking to get back into the world of The Matrix. This is all in the exploratory phase and it’s unclear if the Wachowskis, then Andy and Larry but now Lily and Lana Wachowski, or the original cast will be involved, or producer Joel Silver. Right now the studio is likely to create a writers’ room of scribes to figure out the best possible way to relaunch the franchise.
The story was broken by The Hollywood Reporter yesterday and another big ticket item is that they’re interested in Michael B. Jordan starring in the film. The studio feels there is still potential and life left in the franchise and even though these talks are in the very early stages, it seems like there is interest in taking it to a new place.
If you want a more monetary reason why the studio would do this then you can go back to 1999 when the first film became an unexpected hit. The 1999 original featured some of the most audacious action ever seen onscreen during its time and that film grossed over $463 million worldwide. The sequel The Matrix Reloaded did even better and grossed $742 million globally for Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Pictures. The finale released later that year in 2003, paled in comparison, but still grossed $427.3 million. Altogether the franchise grossed a staggering $1.3 billion worldwide.
The studio isn’t giving an official comment as of now but the talk is getting strong. I’m not really behind this because the first film was groundbreaking and still stands up while the sequels seemed unnecessary. In my opinion there isn’t more story to tell but money talks and we’ll have to wait and see if they actually go through with their plans for this.
